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Bray, Natalie - Dress Pattern Designing PDF

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Bray, Natalie - Dress Pattern Designing PDF

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DRESS PATTERN DESIGNING The Basic Principles of Cut and Fit NATALIE BRAY 1¢ Katinka School signing, FIFTH EDITION With Fashion Supplement and illustrations by Ann Haggar BSP PROFESSIONAL BOOKS OXFORD LONDON EDINBURGH BOSTON PALO ALTO MELBOURNE Copyright ©Natalc Bray 1961, 1966, 1970, BSP Profesional Books. 194. 19K6 A division of Blackwell Scenic Fashion Supplement © Ann Haggar 1986 Publications Lia Editor Offices Al rights reserved. No part ofthis Osney Mead, Oxford OX2 0EL publication may be reproduce, stored (Orders: Tel. 865 240201) na fetes system, or ransmites, 8 John Stet, London WCIN ES, in any form or by any means, 23 Ainslie Place, Edinburgh EHS 6AJ clestonic, mechanical photocopying, 52 Beacon Street, Boston ‘recording or otherwise without ‘Massachusetts 02108, USA the prior permission of the (67 Lytton Avenue, Palo Alto copsight owner, California 94301, USA 107 Bary Stet, Carton First published in Great Britain by Victoria X83, Australia Crosby Lockwood & Son Lid 1961 Reprinted 1962, 1964 Printed and bound in Great Britain by Second edition 1966 RI. Actord, Chichester Reprinted 1968 “Third edition 1970 Reprinted 1972 Fourth edison (metic) 1974 Reprinted 1976, 1978, 1979 Reprinted in paperback 198) by Granada Publishing (SBN 0246 117168) Reprimed 1982, 1983 Fifth edition published by Collins Professional and Technical Books I (ASBN 0 00 383308 6) Reprinted by BSP Professional Books 1987 British Library Cataloguing ia Publication Data Bray, Natalie ‘Dees pater designing: the basic principles of eut si it—Sth ed }. Dressmaking Pattern design [Tide TL Hagear, Ann e604 TTSH0 ISBN 0-652-01481-% ‘Also by Netalie Bray ‘More Dress Pattern Designing 4th Edition ‘With Fashion Supplement by Ann Hagar 0632018836 Dress Fitting 2nd Eition osm 018 8 ONE Two THREE FOUR FIVE SIX SEVEN EIGHT NINE TEN ELEVEN TWELVE THIRTEEN FOURTEEN FIFTEEN SIXTEEN CONTENTS Biographical Note Introductory Applying the Metric System to Practical Pattern Designing Measurements and Block Patterns The Bodice Block (Bodice Analysis) Using the Bodice Block (Introduction to Pattern Designing) Simple Pattern Designing Yoke Styles Dart Manipulation Sleeves Designing Sleeve Patterns Collars Necklines, Revers, Rever-collars, Capes Skirts One-Piece Dress Foundation Designing Skirt Patterns (Gores) Fullness in Skirts: Pleats, Folds, Gathers Flares Circular Patterns Appendix One: The Simplified Bodice Block Appendix Two: Adjustments to Sleeve Abbreviations and Reference Letters FASHION SUPPLEMENT Blocks for Casual Wear Dartless Bodice Block (with Shoulder/Bust Dart Removed) Loose Fitting Shirt Block Loose Fitting Jacket Block Simple Kimono and Raglan Blocks Shoulder Pad Allowances Cuff and Sleeve Openings Pockets ‘Wrap and Strap (or Placket) Openings Halter Necklines Index iv vii 34 44 52 57 65 2 78 87 96 106 110 114 118 122 126 128 130 133 134 135 138 142 150 152 158 166 172 175 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE Natalie Bray was born in Russia, the daughter of a naval officer, but left the country at the time of the Russian Revolution. She trained as a musician, married an Englishman and became a qualified engineer. She first became interested in technical dressmaking in 1926 when she was asked to help in the management of a business called Katinka - Court Dressmakers, started several years earlier by a member of her family. She went to Paris for a year to learn cutting and in 1927 she obtained the Diploma of the Academie de Coupe de Paris. She then ‘worked for three leading Parisian model houses including Lucien Lelong. Having retumed to London, she worked at Katinka but in 1928 decided to start teaching classes as well. At first these were run on the same lines as those she attended in Paris ~ dealing only with modelling patterns con the dress stand and practical dressmaking. She soon ‘became interested in working out a simple, quicker and ‘more exact method of cutting patterns on the flat, which would be based on and could therefore be tested by results obtained by modelling. By 1935 she had evolved her own system of flat pattern cutting, and this method has been taught with various improvements and fashion modify cations ever since. The techniques she pioneered and perfected revolutionised dress pattern designing, assisting the rise of the modem fashion industry. Her teaching has had a profound influence on design, production and education. Her works are classics: fashions change but the principles of cutting the flat pattern do not. They remain essential reference books for all students, teachers and practising cutters. INTRODUCTORY This book follows very closely a course of lessons given over many years at the Katinka School of Dress Design- ing, a course dealing mainly with the fundamental prio- ciples of Cut and Fit on which is based all pattern con- struction, even the most advanced and modera. From this basic course, under the influence of ever- changing fashion, developed the technique of advanced pattern designing practised at the school Tt may, therefore, be useful to say a few words about the origin and development of the methods described in this book, methods which are the result of many years, of research and experimenting with patterns, carried out through many changes of line and fashion. Originally the Katinka School methods of pattern cut- ting on the flat were based directly on results obtained by ‘modelling patterns on the figure or the dress stand. Thus, draping on the figure, or French Modelling (moulage) as it is sometimes called, lies at the root of the whole basic idea that every type of pattern, from the simplest to the ‘most elaborate, can be evolved quite correctly on the flat from a foundation representing the figure, provided certain important principles, discovered through direct ‘modelling, are never lost sight of in the process. ‘The method can therefore be described as ‘modelling fon the flat’, the part of the dress stand being taken by a foundation pattern (or ‘block’) of advanced shape and of considerable adaptability. As these methods originated from direct modelling, they were from the very beginning based on the recogni- tion of several important facts clearly demonstrated by ‘modelling. Perhaps the most important of these is the fact that since the figure is three dimensional, a garment rust also be constructed in three dimensions, i. it must be thought of as having length, width and depth. In this ‘way the shape of the figure and its circumferential size, rather than a non-existent flat size, become the basis for the construction of a pattern, even though the pattern itselfis still worked out on a flat piece of paper, ie. in two dimensions only. It was always considered essential that students should be made aware of this important fact from a very early stage, that they should be taught to recognize its sigaifi- cance in relation to good fit, and be trained to visuali the fit of a garment on the three-dimensional figure, with all its curves and hollows, while actually working in only ‘wo dimensions. Once this mental adjustment has been achieved, pro- fress in learning pattern designing is usually much more rapid, and it is not necessary to have years of fitting ex- petience in order to learn fo see what one is aiming at, i.e. to have a clear mental picture of the shape, line and fit of the style on the Hgure, while still at the stage of cutting the pattern, What this means in terms of added confidence, fore- sight, good judgement and speed, every cutter of experi- ence knows only too well. Yet with some drafting systems involving numerous abstract deductions and complicated calculations, to think ahead of the result, ic. of the finished garment on the igure, is no easy matter, particu- larly for an inexperienced cutter. While concentrating on mastering the system (and this may take aconsiderable time), he can hardly think of anything else, let alone control in advance the line and fit ofthe style on the figure: this has to be left to the fitting. For years the two stages may remain little connected, and only considerable practical experience finally brings them together, giving the cutter the habit of planning ahead by visualizing the result on the figure, and by adjusting his now familiar system accordingly. The recognition of the fundamental link between modelling and ‘fat cutting’ has from the very beginning hada decisive influence on the choice of practical methods adopted at the Katinka School, for it became important not to lose sight of this connection, so helpful for practical pattern designing, and so useful in teaching; nor to allow it to be overlaid with too much theory, This led, for instance, to the checking and discarding of some well- established methods of drafting and block adaptation because, when checked by direct modelling on the stand, they were found to be either unreliable or simply in- correct (e.g. some methods of introducing darts into bodices and skirts, inconsistent with the outline of the pattern—see Chapter Il, sec. 10 and Chapter XI). It also led to preference for simpler methods and to greater reliance on ‘average’ proportions, when it became evident in practice that certain individual details of the figure could not be controlled successfully by any system of ‘measuring and calculation, however clever in theory, but only by fitting, i. ‘modelling’ on the figure. Since such difficulties could not easily be solved except by direct fitting, it was found to be simpler to work on a good ‘average’ basis and to allow for adjustment on the figure, if necessary. Finally, it led to accepting as correct only that which could be proved to becorrect on the stand (or on the igure), and it became a matter of routine to test all patterns cut vi INTRODUCTORY cn the flat by seeing them on the stand, pinned as paper models (or paper ‘toiles’). Checking on the stand patterns which are designed and ccut on the fat is of considerable value: all kinds of mis- takes can be seen and corrected, lines can be improved and the balance adjusted—all this before cutting the material. It can also be of great educational value in training the eye and developing judgement and good taste: for the ultimate object of all pattern study is Pattern Designing, ive, the free, unguided planning of all the details of a style in such a way, that the resulting garment is an elegant model in which not only the fit is correct, but all the style lines are well balanced, becoming to the wearer and in keeping with current fashion. Pattern designing is both a science and an art. A study of the fundamental principles and methods provides the essential basis of scientific data which every cutter must possess, and which can be learnt. Evolving a variety of styles against the background of ever-changing fashion is the creative side of the work, in which natural ability or fair, individual taste and fashion sense play a consider- abie part: this can be developed but not learnt. Dealing with patterns on the stand (whether model. ling them or testing) is invaluable precisely because it helps to develop natural ability: it teaches one to use cone's judgement, to see mistakes and to learn from them, As a practical method for producing patterns model- ling has many disadvantages and limitations, particularly under modern conditions of wholesale production. But ia replacing modelling by a more exact, reliable and modern system, one must endeavour, at any rate in teaching, to ‘etain some of the advantages of modelling, not the least ‘of which s the possibility of learning by ‘directexperience’, Whether used for demonstrating or for testing, the dress stand undoubtedly provides this opportunity. In one way or another, therefore, some connection ‘between the two systems must be preserved, and the more scientific modern way of designing patterns on the flat ust be Kept flexible and adaptable to all changes of fashion, exactly as modelling invariably is, It must not bbe allowed to degenerate into a rigid system of hard rules and abstract calculations, for that way lies the greatest ys1eM 198a0] 20 soLOYS PUR “Y8!9y ‘saundy 49176) 409 si s08uo} oy. 2 ‘Sjuowainseaut wo s91-091 Jo 148i94 aBezaae ue uayrBuo] 24 01 axey AeUH Jopmnoys WENO) An. Pe []ows Ou, "2feas Popes, ANINS w OF WIOJUOD 10 SIL “2889 Yous Ut pasn 9g wed ouAX s9pIM KYBNS & “ALLGIM NOVEX dosd samo ay) Bunsaye inoynm posvaxout stemye 2q ‘ar0ya10UN “HED AAT 1m p9q2auUOD 40 Uo Juapuadap 20U St AAT SLANT 9UOYS OU

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